Afilias announces its first Internationalized Domain Name at the top
level

February 13, 2014 03:52 PM Eastern Standard Time

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global registry services provider Afilias today announced that March 14,
2014, is the sunrise launch date for its first Internationalized Domain
Name (IDN) at the top level: .移动 (.MOBILE in Chinese).

Transliterated as “Yí Dòng,” .移动 is a domain name just like .MOBI, which
is also for mobile websites. But this domain is part of a new generation
of top-level domains (TLDs) that are written in native languages rather
than traditional ASCII-compliant scripts like the .INFO or .MOBI TLDs.

As a complementary TLD to the .MOBI domain in English, .移动 is designed
to let Chinese-speakers — wherever in the world they’re located — know
that a website was designed to work on a mobile device, like an Android™
tablet or an iPhone.

“China is a huge and growing economy,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice
President and CMO, Afilias. “More than one billion people in China have
mobile phones, as do millions more Chinese speakers around the world.
Now, businesses and individuals looking to reach a Chinese-speaking
audience on the Web can do so, regardless of country, operator or
device. With a .移动 address, you can tap the power of mobile and
literally put your message in the hands of the people you want to reach.”

Today marks the beginning of the 30-day minimum notice period of the Start
Date sunrise for the .移动 domain. From March 14, 2014 through April
13, 2014, .移动 domains will be awarded in a “first come, first served”
manner; however, eligibility during this period is limited strictly to
trademark holders whose marks are registered in the Trademark
Clearinghouse. Following the close of sunrise, the .移动 general
availability period will open. From that point forward, everyone is
eligible to register .移动 addresses.

About Afilias

Afilias is the world’s second largest domain registry, with more than 20
million names under management. Afilias powers a greater variety of
top-level domains than any other provider, and will soon support
hundreds of new TLDs now preparing for launch. Afilias’ specialized
technology makes Internet addresses more accessible and useful through a
wide range of applications, including Internet domain
registry services, Managed
DNS and mobile
Web services like goMobi®
and DeviceAtlas®.
For more information on Afilias services, visit www.afilias.info.